Becoming a Man

The National Book Award winning memoir with a new foreword by Kathryn Harrison author of The Kiss.“Fiercely committed to bequeathing a map of his psychic terrain to spare others the pain of his solitary journey [Monette’s] fine memoir is affirmative and ultimately celebratory.” — New York Times Book ReviewA child of the 1950s from a small New England town “perfect Paul” earns straight A’s and scholarships and shines in social and literary pursuits all the while keeping a secret—from himself and the rest of the world. Struggling to be or at least to imitate a straight man through Ivy League halls of privilege and bohemian travels abroad loveless intimacy and unrequited passion Paul Monette was haunted and finally saved by a dream—“The thing I’d never even seen: two men in love and laughing.” This searingly honest witty and humane merging of memoir and manifesto has become the definitive coming out story—and a classic of the coming-of-age genre. It was awarded the 1992 National Book Award for nonfiction.